The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus is the bicameral parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

 that governs the Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

an country of Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

. The two chambers of the National Assembly are:

• Council of the Republic- The upper house
  Upper house
  An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...
  
  
• House of Representatives
  House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus
  Under the 1996 Constitution, the House of Representatives is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus.It consists of 110 deputies elected on the basis of universal, equal, free, and direct electoral suffrage by secret ballot . It is a majoritarian system, with the outcome decided by overall...
  
  - The lower house
  Lower house
  A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
  
  

While each chamber has specific duties, both chambers have the ability to veto the decrees of local administrations that deviate from the Constitution of Belarus

Constitution of Belarus

The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus is the ultimate law of Belarus. Adopted in 1994, three years after the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union, this formal document establishes the framework of the Belarusian state and government and enumerates the rights and freedoms...

.

The chambers of the National Assembly are convened to two regular sessions every year: the first session opens October 2 and its duration cannot be more than 80 days; the second session opens April 2 and does not last more than 90 days.

The House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic may be convened to an extraordinary session. Extraordinary sessions are convened under a particular agenda upon an initiative of the President of the Republic of Belarus or upon a request of at least two-thirds majority of the full membership of each of the chambers.

Any bill must be initially considered in the House of Representatives and then in the Council of the Republic. According to the Constitution, any bill that impacts the state budget must be approved by the president or the government before being voted on.

Its predecessor was the Supreme Soviet of Belarus

Supreme Soviet of Belarus

The Supreme Soviet of Belarus was the immediate continuation of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic , which it its turn was the successor of the Central Executive Committee of Byelorussian SSR , and all of them were the highest organs of state power in Belarus during...

 (until 1996).

Fraction

(2008 4 th convocation). House of Representatives

House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus

Under the 1996 Constitution, the House of Representatives is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus.It consists of 110 deputies elected on the basis of universal, equal, free, and direct electoral suffrage by secret ballot . It is a majoritarian system, with the outcome decided by overall...

- The lower house

Lower house

A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...

Fraction	Number of Deputies
Block Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...	102
Communist Party of Belarus Communist Party of Belarus The Communist Party of Belarus is a political party in Belarus, that supports the government of president Alexander Lukashenko. It was created in 1996. The leader of the party is Tatsyana Holubeva....	8